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You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: readergirlz in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.

Hey, readergirlz! We have a #rockthedrop update for you, courtesy of Lorie Ann Grover:

YALSA has decided to discontinue Support Teen Literature Day in April. We've enjoyed celebrating the day for 8 years by rocking the drop through Operation Teen Book Drop. We've donated thousands of books to teens in hospitals and those on Tribal Lands. We've left young adult books around the world to be found by happy readers. Well done, all!

SO WE ARE GOING TO CONTINUE ANYWAY! We are going to #RocktheDrop in October, on Friday, the 14th, of Teen Read Week. Deal? For now, stash those books to the side, and we'll collectively drop them together next fall. We'll give you a heads up as the time approaches. Let's get those donation piles taller in the meantime.

Be ready to #RocktheDrop on October 14th, 2016. It's going to be a great addition to Teen Read Week. Ready, set, go!

It's under a month away! It's coming! Operation Teen Book Drop, 2015, also known as #rockthedrop. For right now keep an eye for that YA book, or several, you own and want to leave in a public place on Thursday, April 16th. We'll be celebrating YALSA'sSupport Teen Literature Day. Happy finders will be enriched by your beloved reads.

This year instead of a book plate, we are going with a bookmark by Little Willow. Placed in the book, all will know you are leaving a FREE gift. You can print your own bookmarks! Right-click on one of the images below, save the file, print as many as you want, and get ready to Rock the Drop on Thursday, April 16th!

I read A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly nearly five years ago, when it was a readergirlz book selection. Planning to write a review, I took notes, but the paper filled with quotes rather than commentary. When I happened upon those quotes today, I thought I'd share them here see which of my readers also read and enjoyed the book. Let me know in the comments below!

"It was a strange feeling -- worrisome and exciting all at once. Weanxilicious?" - Page 186...to which I added, Hello, portmanteau!

Weaver smiled a sad smile. "You know, Matt," he said. "Sometimes I wish there really was such a thing as a happy ending.""Sometimes there is. Depends on who's writing the story.""I mean in real life. Not in stories." - Page 366

Mattie considers Paradise Lost:It was a dreadful thing that he did, and he is not to be admired for it, but right then I felt I understood why he did it. I even felt a little sorry for him. He probably just wanted some company, for it is very lonely knowing things. - Page 372

I know it is a bad thing to break a promise, but I think now that it is a worse thing to let a promise break you. - Page 374

One of my notes that was not a quote. I wrote, "Mattie has a dictionary that her mother bought - her mother saved up money to get it. Mattie looks up a word a day." I took note of this because when I was very little, my mother gave me my own small dictionary so I'd be able to look up words whenever I happened upon one I didn't know yet. Due to both its size and its importance, that dictionary was the top-most book on my stack of reference materials for years.

The concept of #hitwithgratitude began with the release of my young adult novel HITcoinciding with the release of Justina Chen's YA novel release,A BLIND SPOT FOR BOYS. As close friends, critique partners, and co-founders ofreadergirlz, it was a short leap to the thought of going on tour together. Rather than rgz coming to us, we'd go to you all!

How about the hashtag #hitwithgratitude? Where did that come from? Justina and I a few years before had taken atest, springing from Shawn Achor's book THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE. We discovered out of more than 20 personal strengths, we both ranked Gratitude in our top five abilities. It was interesting, and we filed it away. We also ran across Ann Voskamp's book,ONE THOUSAND GIFTS: A DARE TO LIVE FULLY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, and we discussed the beauty of numbering our blessings. Personally, I was being hit with wave after wave of chronic illness diagnoses from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, while Justina was being hit by an unexpected divorce, being abandoned in China, and finding her long way home.

In 2014, as Justina read HIT and I read A BLIND SPOT FOR BOYS, we were struck by how both novels carried the theme of enduring trial with a thankful heart. A theme we've shared with readergirlz across the country since our beginning in 2007. We chatted about choosing to be BETTER NOT BITTER and choosing PRAISE NOT PITY. There was room to be thankful in the midst of trial: not because of it (that would be irrational), not in spite of it (that would be grim determination), but thanks in the midst of it, knowing there is a greater purpose and lessons to be learned.

With #hitwithgratitude, we set out initially on tour with our books to encourage readers of all ages to hit back with gratitude even when hit by heartache, loss, and physical testing. As time passes, we'll likely travel together around the globe more, carrying the same injunction. Along the way, we'll meet with readergirlz, media, librarians, teachers, students, and book clubs of all ages. We'll exchange stories, listening wholeheartedly, and encourage everyone to share a pic, a text, a video, or a post with the hashtag: #hitwithgratitude. Sharing, our personal gratitude we can hit, encourage one another, with our thanks...over and over...and over.

Join us, rgz. Let's run and #hitwithgratitude! Hit-and-Run: the Gratitude TourPortland: October 2Yakima: October 3, 4Launch Party, Sumner, WA: October 7Tempe: October 16-18South TX: November 12-16YALSA Symposium: November 15

(If you'd like to contact us regarding a visit, virtual or personal, jot an email to lorieanngroveratclearwiredotnet. We'd love to see you, rgz, and share a bit of our gratitude for each one of you!)

Banned Book Week was started 32 years ago to celebrate the freedom to read after more and more books were being challenged in libraries and schools. According to the American Librarian Association, over 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982. Over 200 of them happened in 2013! You can learn more about Banned Book Week on the ALA website.

What do you do to spread the word about Banned Books Week and Intellectual Freedom Issues? I do a banned book display each year.My favorite displays are the ones I did in 2011 when library patrons wrote about their favorite banned books and the 2012 display that took up a whole shelving unit. I love being able to showcase these banned and challenged books.

Along with each year’s display, I include Banned Book lists and pamphlets as well as bookmarks and buttons for library customers to take home. We’ve had essay contests where readers write about their favorite challenged or banned books and win copies of banned books. When I visit the middle schools to talk about books in the fall I often bring along books that have been challenged from other parts of the country and have the students guess why they might be banned or challenged.

Readers Roar: (Let’s hear what teens have to say about banned books)

“If people read the books before they banned them, they might have a better understanding of why the book is important. If you ban a book, it only makes me want to read it more.”- Jessica, Grade 11

Any Banned Books you would like to highlight? Some of my favorite banned and challenged books include Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Shine and TTYL by Lauren Myracle, and 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. And my absolute favorite banned/ challenged book is Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Most teens are amazed to hear that it has been taken out of some schools and libraries!

What can readergirlz do to celebrate Banned Books Week? Check out the activities on the BannedBooksSite . Readergirlz can celebrate their freedom to read by reading one or two banned or challenged books during Banned Book Week. Bonus points for reading these all year long, not just in September and for sharing these titles with their friends and family.

More ideas from readergirlz diva Janet Lee Carey: Grab your favorite Banned Book and RIP = Read in Public. Do a selfie while reading your favorite banned book and post it on your favorite social networks. Use twitter hashtag #BannedBooksWeek and @readergirlz when you post on twitter.

ONE LAST BIG ROAR from guest poster, Danielle The best way to support libraries is to use them! Check out books and DVDs and CDs, use the databases to find information, and attend as many library programs and events as your schedule allows. By doing these, you are showing us that you think libraries are important. There are many ways to give back to your library. Consider becoming a volunteer or join the library board or Friend’s Group. Teens can join the library’s Teen Advisory Board and help make decisions about future library programs and purchases. You can also donate books to the library for the Friends of Library Book Sale. The money from these sales supports library programs and special events!

About Danielle Dreger-Babbitt

I’ve been a teen librarian for over 10 years and have worked in libraries in Massachusetts and Washington. I’ve been an Adult/ Teen Librarian at the Mill Creek Library for over 5 ½ years. I’ve been active in ALA’s YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) for the last decade and have served on committees including Outreach to Teens With Special Needs, The Schneider Family Book Award, and most recently The Alex Awards, for which I was the 2014 committee chair.

In my spare time I write for children and teens. I love to read YA and MG fiction and cooking memoirs/ cookbooks. I own two cats and two badly behaved (but adorable) dogs. I also love to travel and recently visited Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this month's blog series at readergirlz! I had a lot of fun gathering candid and heartfelt responses from authors. Lorie Ann asked me to post my own list, so here goes nothing:

7 Things You Don't Know About Me

1) I've been writing stories and songs since birth, practically.

2) I am capable of charming squirrels out of trees.

3) There is no television show I have loved more completely from start to finish than Leverage.

4) I love word play.

5) Synchronicity and causality are recurring themes in my life.

6) Chances are, I'm shorter than you.

7) I project. In more ways than one.

So there you have it! I hope March has been lovely for all of you. Don't forget to mark your calendars for Operation Teen Book Drop 2014, which will be happening in just a few weeks on April 17th. Stay tuned to the readergirlz blog, Facebook, and Twitter to learn how you can participate and #rockthedrop!

In honor of our seven-year anniversary, we're catching up with rgz divas and featured authors over at the readergirlz blog. Some folks are posting lists of 7 Things You Don't Know About Me, revealing both silly and serious personal traits and anecdotes. Kicking off our anniversary series (or shall we say, anniver-series?) of posts is none other than our own Melissa Walker.

readergirlz is a literacy and social media project for teens, awarded the National Book Foundation's Innovations in Reading Prize. The rgz blog serves as a depot for news and YA reviews from industry professionals and teens. As volunteers return full force to their own YA writing, the organization continues to hold one initiative a year to impact teen literacy. All are welcome to "like" us on Facebook!

Can you believe our 7 year birthday is coming? Seriously, March 1, we are 7 years old! Watch for posts throughout the month of authors we featured in the past. They will be sharing 7 Things We Don't Know or giving a speedy update on their writing.

But now, I'm posting to make a quote call. Let's See It, Say It. Take your favorite quote from YA lit, snap a pic of the page, or write the quote out and take a pic, or design something awesome over at Polyvore. However you like, get it visual and post it on our Facebook page. Authors, draw from your own works and others; readers share the best bits from the books you heart; and librarians, teachers, and booksellers, jump on in.

Our beloved Ellen Hopkins has done this for awhile:

Here's one from co-founder Dia Calhoun:

And here's another from co-founder Justina Chen:

Here's one from me which I put together on Polyvore:

So you get the idea right? Okay! Find those quotes and get them onto our Facebook page. We'll make an album and cull some for the blog as well. Thanks for celebrating with us! Happy early birthday, rgz! xox

As we look back over the day, you all rocked the drop from Glasgow to Georgia, from zoos to restaurants, from one reader to the next, and we thank you! What a celebration for Support Teen Lit Day. You all posted, tweeted, tumbled, and pinned. The photos are awesome on #rockthedrop and the readergirlz facebook page. Be sure to scroll through and enjoy what we did together. It's AMAZING!

Crissa, rgz HOST, always rocks the drop with style! Take a look at her video drop. Thank you, Crissa!

And here are just a few pics to remember the day:Thank you, publishers, such as Team Egmont!Thank you, libraries, such as San Diego County!Thank you, authors, such as Sara Zarr in Salt Lake City to...Liz Gallagher in Seattle.Thank you, schools:Courtney Craig MerrittI am a Spanish and English teacher at Del Norte High School and a bunch of my Education In Action club kids will be dropping off books in the 4S Ranch community. Keep your eye out! We're so excited to be a part of this wonderful, literary cause.and thank you, readergirlz!

If you were not able to rock the drop yesterday due to time, weather, or other such uncontrollable things, don't fret - you can totally drop a book today, this weekend, whenever time allows! When you do, leave us a comment here at the readergirlz blog or on Facebook, and tweet @readergirlz with the hashtag #rockthedrop - and include a picture if you took one!

You can also participate on a larger scale, if you'd like, by donating a bunch of books to the place or cause of your choice. Visit a local shelter, a school, a library, a children's hospital, and ask if they take donations. Once you've gotten the okay, gather up new or gently used books from your friends, family, classmates, and co-workers, add the bookplates, tuck in some bookmarks, then drop the books off!

You can also donate books to826NYC, a non-profit organization that assists young writers between the ages of 6 and 18 as well as the awesome folks who teach them. If you'd like to send them books, here's the address:

Want to share your favorite YA novels with others? Do so in a cool way on April 14th, 2011 to show your support for Teen Literature Day. Here's Lorie Ann Grover from readergirlz to tell you a little more about the annual event:

This year, we are refining our focus and simply encouraging rgz around the world to drop a YA book in their own community to celebrate Support Teen Lit Day. Why not make this the annual honoring effort? Imagine people around the world finding copies of the best literature in unexpected places, gifted out of love for YA lit. Everyone can participate to raise awareness of the day!

Soon, we'll have a banner for your sites and a bookplate for you to download and glue into your donation. We'll have other fun details as well. Watch for all the upcoming info, and be ready to ROCK THE DROP!

* Snag the banner above, created by the uber-talented David Ostow (who blogs hilarious cartoons here), and add it to your website, linking back to this post to share the love, and proclaiming that you will indeed ROCK THE DROP!* Print a copy of the bookplate below and insert it into a book (or 10!) that you'll drop on April 14th. Drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?) and you're done. Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!* Snap a photo of your drop and email readergirlz AT gmail DOT com with the pic -- we'll be posting lots of pictures of drops happening all over the world at the readergirlz blog, and our friends at Figment will also be featuring the event!

Imagine people around the globe finding copies of amazing books in unexpected places, gifted out of love for YA lit. Everyone can participate to raise awareness of the day!

'Twas the night before Rock the DropAnd all through the blogospherePeople put bookplatesIn stories held dear...

Want to share your favorite stories with other readers? Give a book away tomorrow!

People love free stuff, and people who love to read love free books. Tomorrow, Thursday, April 14th, folks all over the world will be dropping the book(s) of their choice in a public spot - in a diner, on a seat in the subway, next to a school, on a park bench - with a lovely bookplate pasted inside to let the lucky reader-finder know that the book is all theirs, and that it's part of the Rock the Drop effort being put on by readergirlz and Figment.

Download the banner above, created by David Ostow (who blogs hilarious cartoons here), and add it to your website or blog, linking back to this post on readergirlz, and proclaiming that you will indeed ROCK THE DROP!

Print a copy of the bookplate below and insert it into a book (or 10!) that you'll drop today in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?).

I'm about to go out and Rock the Drop for Readergirlz in support of Teen Lit Day. What's that, you say? You don't know about Teen Lit Day? You don't know about Readergirlz and its mission to promote teen literarcy and corresponding social service? You don't know about Figment? Stop all traffic. Take a moment here. Get yourself involved.

0 Comments on Teen Lit Day: Rocking the Drop with Readergirlz as of 1/1/1900

Readers of this blog know that a You Are My Only treasure hunt is under way. The hunt goes something like this: I've written five guest posts about the making of this book. Those posts have now begun to pop up in the blogosphere. Your job (should you choose to accept it) is to find those five entries and then post them collectively on your own blog. Send the link to me, in a comment box on my blog, and your name will be entered into a drawing.

Two winners will be selected. Each will win these two things: A signed copy of You Are My Only AND a critique (by yours truly) of the first 2,000 words of a work-in-progress. As many of you know, I teach memoir at the University of Pennsylvania and served as the inaugural readergirlz author in residence. I have written in multiple genres and critique adult fiction for major U.S. newspapers. Your manuscript can, I am hinting, be in any genre, save for a screenplay, about which I have absolutely zero expertise.

To make this contest a little easier, I am reprinting here the first paragraphs of the two entries that are now floating out there in the virtual world.

The first, titled "The (furious) metamorphosis of Sophie," is hosted on a blog that has the clever subtitle "Looking better in black since 1234." It appeared on September 9th, and it begins like this:

Several years ago I began to write a novel for adults that had a certain Sophie as its focus. She was in her late thirties and her boyfriend, Vin, had recently left her. She was alone, a writer, and trying to piece together the unresolved oddments of her past. Strange things were being left on Sophie’s doorstep—signs, masks, even a pot of soup—and the only thing that Sophie knew for sure that she was being lured to an abandoned asylum on the other side of the woods by people she wasn’t certain she could trust.

The second, titled "Opening the door to Cloris and Helen," appears today, September 21, and is hosted by a blogger whom we all consider to be our friend. It begins like this:

I’ll be honest. Cloris and Helen are two characters who have been living with me for more than a decade. That’s right. I carried these two dear souls, these more-than-best-friends ladies, through a variety of novels I’d been writing. They were bird-obsessed in one book (not so strange, since all of my books have at least one character who is obsessed with birds). They were digging a huge hole beneath their house in another. In an early version of the book that became You Are My Only, it was Cloris who had been committed to the asylum.

Two posts up and three to go. I'll be keeping you apprised as the hunt continues.

Finally, today, I would like to thank the ever-dear Lorie Ann Grover for her beautiful words about You Are My Only. I had the privilege of work

3 Comments on The You Are My Only Treasure Hunt Continues, last added: 9/21/2011

"Through this zine we present stories of courage and creativity sourced from people like you and me, living, working, being courageously creative and changing themselves and others in our community. Our writers come from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life - they are small business owners, state employees, corporate CEOs, non-profit founders and volunteers, professionals, scientists, sociologists, artists, activists, mothers and fathers, and friends."

The editor was kind to inquire about readergirlz and my personal life. My essay is entitled "Joy in the Midst of Trial." Take a look! The entire zine is created with such beautiful quality. Here is their Facebook page, as well. I know you will be uplifted by these "transcultural stories of courage, creativity and change!" Here's a shout out to our amazing community. Thanks for the years of love and support, rgz!

* Snag the bookplate - download it HERE - created by the uber-talented David Ostow (who blogs hilarious cartoons here), and add it to your blog and social networks, linking back to this post to share the love. Proclaim that you will ROCK THE DROP!

* Print a copy of the bookplate and insert it into a book (or 10!) to drop on April 12th. Drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?). Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!

* Plan to snap a photo and post it at the readergirlz facebook page. Then tweet the drop at #rockthedrop with all the other lovers of YA books.

Readergirlz and Figment are planning a Rock the Drop event on April 12, 2012. It works like this. Get a book. Put the bookplate, below, in the book. Drop the book somewhere that someone might find it. It's like International Book Giving Day but more subversive.

So do it. Easy enough to share a good read with an unknown "friend".

Battle of the Books:Daughter of Smoke and Bone won its first round - as I predicted. I am buffing my chipped nails on my lapel as you read this. Don't forget to read the commentaries after Sara Zarr's thoughtful judging.

One of the comments to BoB's post mentioned the artwork for today. I like the little bomb shelter sign that Dead End in Norvelt so ineffectively uses as a shield. Thanks to RB for drawing attention to these graphics. So read EVERYTHING on the Battle's page; the decision, the commentaries and the comments. All fun, all worthwhile.

I still have two passes to the Elizabeth Ellis performance on March 31st at Northampton Community College. Listen to the interview and story at the link above. Honestly, she is so good we should charge TWICE as much as we are charging. Try something new.

Thanks, Katie. March is so much more fun with BoB. So, are you wanting those passes to Elizabeth Ellis? If you are, email me at bookkm@gmail.com and we'll arrange to get them to you. If not, no worries.

I'm cheating a little this year... My local library has been hit hard by Katrina, and is still recovering in so many ways. What better way to bring books to teens' lives than to give them to the library, I figured--that way, these books can Rock The Drop for years to come.

Hope you join in!

0 Comments on Celebrating Teen Lit Day, Today I #rockthedrop as of 1/1/1900

This year, in addition to rocking out and dropping our favorite YA titles in public spaces for lucky readers to discover, we're also directing supporters of teen fiction everywhere to consider a book donation to 826NYC to help grow their library.

Here's how you can get involved:

* Follow @readergirlz on Twitter and tweet #rockthedrop* Print a copy of the bookplate and insert it into a book (or 10!) On April 18th, drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?) Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!* Post the banner at your blog and social networks. Proclaim that you will ROCK THE DROP!* Snap a photo of your drop and post it at the readergirlz Facebook page. Then tweet the drop at #rockthedrop with all the other lovers of YA books.

This year's bookplate was designed by the super-talented Lindsay Frantz. Thank you, Lindsay!

Not in New York? No problem! Anyone anywhere may participate. This Thursday, April 18th, Operation Teen Book Drop is happening all over the country - and all over the world! Operation TBD was created by readergirlz in 2008 in honor of Support Teen Literature Day. Every year, the movement grows stronger and stronger. It's free to participate, and it's always fun to share a good book. Learn more about Operation Teen Book Drop.

Drop books. Donate books. Find books. Use the hashtag #rockthedrop and follow the happenings this Thursday!

It's time to ROCK THE DROP! Today is the day for Operation Teen Book Drop 2013!

Love books? Share them! In honor of Support Teen Lit Day, readergirlz has teamed up with Figment, I Heart Daily, Soho Teen, and 826NYC to celebrate the sixth annual Teen Book Drop. Anyone anywhere in the world may participate simply by leaving the book of their choice in a public place (a coffeehouse, a school, a skateboard park) for someone else to find. It's just that easy! Plus, there's the bonus fun when someone contacts readergirlz to tell them they found the book that you dropped.

If you want to chronicle your drop, share it on social media like this:

* Follow @readergirlz on Twitter and tweet #rockthedrop* Print a copy of the bookplate and insert it into a book (or 10!) Drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?) with a note or Post-It on the front saying something like, "THIS BOOK IS FREE!" or "READ ME!" Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!* Post the banner at your blog and social networks. Proclaim that you will ROCK THE DROP!* Snap a photo of your drop and post it at the readergirlz Facebook page. Then tweet the drop with the hashtag #rockthedrop to share the news with other readers.

This year's bookplate was designed by the super-talented Lindsay Frantz. Thank you, Lindsay!

You can also participate on a larger scale, if you'd like, by donating a bunch of books to the place or cause of your choice. Visit a local shelter, a school, a library, a children's hospital, and ask if they take donations. Once you've gotten the okay, gather up new or gently used books from your friends, family, classmates, and co-workers, add the bookplates, tuck in some bookmarks, then drop the books off!

This year, readergirlz is encouraging folks to donate books to 826NYC. If you're interested, here's the address: